Khalil Anwari of the of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, right, speaks with Speaker of the Vermont House Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, as Afghan families from around the state gather in Burlington on Sunday, March 19, 2023, to celebrate Nowruz, a holiday that marks the start of spring and new year in Afghanistan. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
As a child in Afghanistan, Sayed Khalilullah Anwari — or Khalil Anwari as he prefers — wanted to be a poet or a mathematician.
Amid extreme upheaval in his home country, he ended up on a different path.
Anwari, 33, now lives in South Burlington and works for the organization that supported him when he arrived in the United States two years ago.
During his time working at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Colchester, he estimates that he’s helped about 80 refugees and immigrants resettle in Chittenden and Washington counties.
Anwari is currently helping three Afghan families secure jobs and adjust to life in Vermont. They came as part of the U.S. evacuation project “Operation Allies Welcome,” launched after the Taliban captured the capital city of Kabul in August 2021, soon after U.S. forces had withdrawn from a 20-year war.
Vermont began to accept Afghan refugees in early 2022, and some 450 to 500 Afghans have come to the state since then, according to Tracy Dolan, director of the State Refugee Office.
Anwari, who was also forced to flee after the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021, said in an interview that he had faced threats to his life for his pro-democracy work. He was granted humanitarian parole in the U.S., and a months-long process brought him to Vermont by way of Abu Dhabi and Washington, D.C.
“I never thought I would leave my home country that I love and under such circumstances,” Anwari said with emotion. “I could never imagine a scenario in which democracy was a bygone thing and we will be living under a theocratic state.”
An upheaval
Anwari was born to a politically influential family that appreciated the arts and encouraged expression. While he flew kites and enjoyed sports and festivals like any other Afghan child growing up in Kabul, he recalls his parents going the extra mile to challenge him and his siblings.
After a family trip to their hometown in Parwan district, for instance, his father asked him to write an account of it. Sometimes, his father would order the household not to cook dinner and they would all eat yogurt with bread to remind them of how the majority of the country lived.
His father, Sayed Hussein Anwari, was a prominent politician, resistance leader and a local hero among progressive groups in Afghanistan.
A military advisor to President Ashraf Ghani, he previously fought in the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s and fought against the Taliban as a leader of the rebel coalition Northern Alliance, which opposed the Taliban regime from 1996 until its fall in 2001.
Hussein Anwari later served as governor for Kabul and Herat provinces and also served as a member of parliament in Kabul, Anwari said.
Describing his father as “an unwavering pillar of support and inspiration,” Anwari said his wisdom and guidance “profoundly shaped my approach to both personal challenges and professional endeavors.”
Anwari, who graduated from American University of Afghanistan in 2013 with a bachelor’s in political science and public administration, served as a senior advisor to Afghanistan’s National Security Council. His work involved leading a team of analysts, writing policy, strategic communication with political leaders and liaising with international NATO advisors led by the U.S.
He was poised to head to the United States for graduate school when, in 2016, his father died from cancer.
Khalil Anwari (right) with his father Sayed Hussein Anwari (center) during a medical treatment trip to India in 2016. Courtesy photo
“It completely changed my life,” he said.
As Afghanistan mourned the loss, Anwari toured the country to attend memorials and processions organized to honor his father. That experience, he said, inspired him to switch career paths from bureaucracy to public service.
In October 2016, he became the chairman of a far-left political party. He said he used that role to advocate for marginalized groups, secure two new seats for women in parliament, help initiate peace talks with the Taliban and address discriminatory practices in government.
It required such long hours that he often slept in the office, he said with a laugh.
The final straw
As Anwari and his allies were working to ensure a clean democratic process and free elections, the U.S. government under then-President Donald Trump pressed the Afghan government to release almost 5,000 Taliban prisoners as part of an exchange that helped launch peace talks in Qatar. To political observers in Afghanistan that was a sign that the dynamics were not favoring democracy, Anwari said.
Around the same time, Anwari received another blow. In July 2021, the extremist group brutally executed 22 members of the Afghan Special Forces, which had helped rescue troops and retake outposts after Taliban attacks. Among them was his best friend, Sohrab Azimi, a U.S.-trained field commander who, Anwari said, had been battling to free a northern town controlled by the Taliban.
“He was like a brother to me. We basically spent our childhood together, we grew up together, we went to the same school. It was a very big deal when he was martyred and it was all over the media,” he said.
Calling Azimi “a symbol of courage and sacrifice in our fight against the Taliban,” Anwari said he carries his friend’s legacy with him.
Those events, coupled with the political instability and extremism and threats on his own life, finally led Anwari to leave Afghanistan, months after many members of his family had already relocated to the United States.
“My political beliefs and what we stood for throughout my professional career were the embodiment of what the Taliban opposed and hated,” he said. “Having worked with U.S. troops and later on with advisors specifically added another layer of threat to my safety.”
According to the latest intel, his residence is currently occupied by the Taliban that has banned all socio-political activity in the country, he said.
The journey out of Afghanistan was marked with close shaves.
After leaving his home, Anwari recounted first hiding in the mountains to the north, where he connected with friends in the U.S. military who helped him board a plane bound for the United Arab Emirates at a Taliban-controlled airport.
“And that in itself was a whole experience because I was holding a diplomatic, political passport,” Anwari said.
After landing in the capital of Abu Dhabi he was vetted for several months before flying to Washington, D.C. in May 2022.
A new role
Anwari had visited the U.S. before and had family in Vermont so he chose to move here.
Just a few months after his arrival in the Green Mountain State, Anwari saw an opening for a case worker position at USCRI and applied. While a very different job from the types of posts he’d previously held, Anwari identified a common thread.
“I do have this sense of responsibility toward any marginalized community. That has been a constant dedication of mine throughout my career, whether it was in the political arena in Afghanistan or outside of it,” he said.
Amila Merdzanovic, the organization’s director, describes Anwari as uniquely sensitive to the plight of Afghan immigrants who have had to flee their homes and deeply invested in helping them not just find their feet, but thrive.
“What stands out about Khalil is he is number one, a deep thinker, but also a very creative thinker,” she said.
Promoted to program manager for workforce development last July, Anwari has helped develop a four-pronged program to help refugees envision a better future for themselves beyond just finding a job.
“It’s thanks to the funding through the state refugee office that we were able to develop this program and implement it. But really, the vision for the program was Khalil’s,” Merdzanovic said.
The program goes beyond providing case management and employment support by aiming to help newcomers pursue their goals beyond simply securing an entry-level job. It also gives them access to homeownership options through Champlain Housing Trust programs. The third component involves engaging more with the Legislature and with the media, and the fourth involves a research project to assess the contribution of Afghans to the Vermont economy.
Immigrants play a large role in the economic vitality of the state, said Anwari, and data collected from employers and the state will be “crucial” to better support their needs and to enhance their contributions to the community.
An immigrant advocate
Anwari has also found time to contribute to the community in other ways.
Last year he was among the Afghan community leaders who organized the first Nowruz or New Year celebration for Afghans in Vermont. The event in Burlington displayed the culture, food and music of a community displaced by war and adjusting to a new life in Vermont.
Khalil Anwari of the of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, speaks as Afghan families from around the state gather in Burlington on Sunday, March 19, 2023, to celebrate Nowruz, a holiday that marks the start of spring and new year in Afghanistan. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Earlier this month Anwari joined Vermont’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. to advocate for legislation to support refugees and asylum seekers.
The measures include the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would provide a path to permanent residency for Afghan allies evacuated to the U.S., and the Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act, which would allow a quicker process for asylum seekers to be eligible to work.
U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., spoke highly of Anwari’s efforts.
“A vital part of creating safe spaces for those seeking refuge and asylum in Vermont comes from the dedicated work of advocacy organizations and community leaders,” he said in an emailed statement. “That includes Vermonters like Khalil Anwari, who draws on his own experiences as an immigrant to advocate for displaced people and support families looking to settle in our state.”
In April, Anwari discussed democratic institution-building in Afghanistan as a guest lecturer at a political science class in Middlebury College. Associate professor Edward McMahon said by email that the students “were deeply impressed by his energy, intelligence and knowledge.”
“Khalil Anwari has already lived a life most of us cannot imagine, from having served at the highest levels of the Afghan government where he showed a commitment to nation-building, to being uprooted and forced to begin life over again in a new country,” McMahon continued.
Instead of being proud or bitter about his fate, McMahon said Anwari has “tackled his situation head-on by assessing his talents and strengths and determining how they can best be utilized for the benefit of Afghan refugees and Vermonters alike.”
Asked how he stays positive and motivated, Anwari said his philosophy is that any emotion can either be a hindrance or act as a fuel to help achieve goals. He chooses to focus on the latter even though the losses often hang heavy.
“There’s not a day or a night in my life that I do not strive to work towards my dreams,” he said. “I’m not trying to draw a perfect picture here — it’s sometimes hard.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: After fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, Khalil Anwari advocates for immigrants in Vermont.